It spit some ash into the air, and where it land I know not where.

As indicated in my last entry, I live in 鹿児島(かごしま/Kagoshima), which is very close to 桜島(さくらじま/Sakurajima), an active 火山(かざん/volcano). Actually, an active 火山 that is getting more and more active as the years go by. Unsurprisingly, this affects our day to day lives in many ways, but it’s all due to one factor: volcanic 灰 (はい/ash).

My poor car...

灰 covers everything here. Wash your 車 (くるま/car) on a beautiful clear day, and soon after you will see a light coating of 灰 on the hood, even though you see nothing in the air. Do it when the 風 (かぜ/wind) is blowing in the wrong direction, and soon you will see your 車 change from its natural colour to a dark gray.

雨が降っています。「あめがふっています/ame ga futte imasu」。(“It is raining”, or more literally, “Rain is falling”)

灰が降っています。「はいがふっています/hai ga futte imasu」。(“Ash is falling”. Much like we use 降る(ふる/Furu) to say rain is falling from the sky, we can also use it to say ash is falling from the sky).

桜島 is located about 10km directly 東 (ひがし/east) of 鹿児島市 (かごしまし/Kagoshima city), on the other side of Kinko bay. When the wind blows from 西 (にし/west) to 東, the villages and towns 東 of the volcano get the most ash. When it blows from 東 to 西, 鹿児島市 gets coated. Since the 風 is so important to our daily lives, we pay a little closer attention to the 天気予報 (てんきよほう/weather forecast) than most people. There is even a special 火山 forecast, showing an aerial view of the 火山, and two arrows. One showing the direction and speed of the ash expected at 9am, and another showing the same for 3pm.

While most people still love living here, it is getting increasingly annoying as 桜島 has been getting more and more active. As of this writing, it has erupted(explosively) 158 times since 一月一日 (いちがつついたち/January 1st). Last year was record breaking for both the number of eruptions, and the volume of 灰 that fell on the city. If this month is any indication, it’s not getting better . When the wind turns towards us in the spring, we might have to rethink how we go about our daily lives.

The wind is blowing east to west, so the ash fell directly on downtown Kagoshima.